What It’s Like to Win the Race Named After Your Ancestor

The Jonas Cattell Memorial 10-mile run, held October 23 in Haddonfield, New Jersey, honors a local Revolutionary War hero who used his athleticism to perform a Paul Revere-like service to his countrymen.

As a teenager, Cattell ran 10 miles through the backwoods of New Jersey to warn his countrymen of an impending Hessian attack in 1777. Cattell’s alert gave the Americans time to adequately prepare their defenses, and in the ensuing Battle of Red Bank they prevailed against the German mercenaries.

In this weekend’s race—the 47th annual—the memory of Jonas Cattell was honored in a remarkable way. Among the 191 participants was Julie Cattell, his great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter.

Julie showed that fleet feet run in the Cattell family as she was the first woman, for the sixth time in this race, completing the point-to-point course in a time of 1:08:04—eight minutes ahead of the next female.

Julie, 35, lives in San Diego, California, but grew up in southern New Jersey and later Texas.

Like most kids, when growing up she couldn’t have cared less about some relative in the distant past. “I knew a little,” she told Runner’s World, “but we moved to Texas when I was going into middle school, so I didn’t put too much stock into my ancestors.”

That is until years later, in 2008, when she started running—and went through a divorce.

“I got my last name back,” she said. Childhood memories of her running Revolutionary ancestor came back with it. When she learned that a road race was held in Jonas’s honor, she decided to fly back East to run it in 2008.

“It was a way to honor myself and enjoy who I am and my ancestry,” she said.

It wasn’t quite so enjoyable the first time, when she had to walk the last two miles of the race. “I had just started running,” she joked. But working with a coach in California, Julie tapped into a reservoir of talent she never knew she had. She made rapid improvements and has now won the Cattell 10-miler six years in a row.

However, Julie is not the only runner captivated by Jonas Cattell, a man that could be considered the Pheidippides of the American Revolution. Jim Sery, a top local runner in South Jersey’s Gloucester County, won last year’s race dressed in period clothing—breeches and stockings. (He called the stockings “18th century compression socks.”)

Jim Sery, in period costume, accepts his award at the 2016 Jonas Cattell Memorial 10-mile run.

Photograph by Monica Barron, Road Runners Club of Woodbury

Sery, 55, ran again Sunday. Coming off an injury, he still finished in the top 20 in a time of 1:11:47—and again wore the get-up.

“It was interesting to see how it feels running with clothes like that,” he said, calling the overall feel “constricting.” (He did avoid wearing the period-specific leather shoes.)

Exactly what Cattell wore, or even what he did, is still subject to debate. Depending on the source he was either an 18 or 19-year-old blacksmith’s apprentice at the time of the run. He and other young men had been rounded up by the Hessians as they were marching toward what they hoped would be a surprise attack on the nearby American fort. Cattell escaped and ran through trails and swamps to the Fort.

Sery—who has been fascinated by Cattell since he was a cross-country runner at Haddonfield High—lives with his wife Nancy (who also ran on Sunday) in a restored 1727 tavern not far from the course that was supposedly a post-war hangout for Cattell (who lived to be 90).

In 1970, a local fraternal organization decided to honor the memory of the hero by organizing a road race—a point-to-point course, approximated to be the route Jonas would have taken from Haddonfield, although at the time there was only one road (King’s Highway), which is still part of the course.

“This is one of the most unique and meaningful races that I know,” Sery said. “And also one of the best kept secrets.”

Julie Cattell said that participating in this race means something more than just celebrating her running DNA.

“This is to honor someone who did something fearless and selfless in a time that was perilous and dangerous,” she said. “It’s important for people to know that, that one guy can make a difference.”

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